


Playing Cupid (Playing Stupid)

by baeconandeggs



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-31 23:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3996622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baekhyun might or might not be in love with Chanyeol, who might or might not have a boyfriend, and Kyungsoo definitely wants to kill him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing Cupid (Playing Stupid)

**Author's Note:**

> To my recipient: This ended up being more Percy Jackson!AU than I originally intended. Your prompts were so cute, and I hope you enjoy this!

Baekhyun hates Chanyeol the moment he sees him. Maybe it’s because he still has a headache from a two hour flight and hasn’t gotten a minute of sleep since three that morning. It could also be because Baekhyun can’t understand a single word of Chinese and has forgotten the English word for “baggage claim,” which is why he’s been walking in circles for the past half hour. 

“Are you from Korea?” Chanyeol asks. His voice is too bright and cheerful for Baekhyun’s attitude. 

“Yes.” While Baekhyun’s happy that someone else can speak Korean as well, Chanyeol isn’t the sort of person he would willingly interact with. 

“I’m Chanyeol,” he says, as if the name tag around his neck wasn’t obvious enough. “What’s your name?” 

“Baekhyun.” Baekhyun’s still looking around at the signs. 

“Baggage claim is downstairs,” Chanyeol says helpfully, correctly guessing what Baekhyun had been searching for. That explains why Baekhyun has been unable to find his suitcase. “I can take you to it,” he offers. 

Baekhyun hesitantly agrees. They get on the escalator going down and Chanyeol starts talking to fill up the silence. “Are you going to the demigod camp over here too? I’ve heard that they accept people from all over Asia, but I wasn’t sure if there would be any Koreans. This is actually—”

“Yeah, I’m going to the camp,” Baekhyun says. 

“Who’s your parent?” 

“Athena.” 

“Athena?” Chanyeol repeats incredulously. “Your mother is Athena but you can’t understand Chinese or English?” 

Baekhyun glares at him. He doesn’t understand why every child of Athena is automatically considered a genius. “No, I can’t. I never bothered to.” 

Chanyeol shakes his head, eyes still too wide from surprise. Baekhyun wonders if they could actually pop out of his head. “I guess the camp is an educational experience.” 

They arrive at the baggage claim center too late, so the baggage is already at the office. Chanyeol is able to say a few phrases in really slow and heavily accented Chinese, but the basic meaning must have carried through because the officials hand Baekhyun’s bags over after a few minutes.

“I learned a bit of Chinese before I came here,” Chanyeol says proudly as they walk out of the office. He looks very pleased that the officials were able to understand him. “Just a little bit, but I guess that’s enough.” Then Chanyeol laughs very loudly and Baekhyun decides, no, he doesn’t like his laugh either. 

“The email said the counselor would pick us up outside the airport.” Chanyeol’s walking too fast, and Baekhyun has to pull his suitcase along and run twice as fast to catch up with him. He doesn’t like Chanyeol’s long legs, either. “I wonder where he is.” They’re near the exit of the airport now, but there are still a few guards, some of whom are looking through random suitcases. “Those are for the foreigners,” Chanyeol explains, noticing Baekhyun’s curious glance in their direction. “Just don’t look too lost and they’ll ignore you.” 

They exit the airport without a problem, and then they’re standing outside, breathing in the air of Taiwan. There’s an old man smoking beside them, and Baekhyun considers telling him off, but decides that it’s not worth it. While the smoke isn’t helping his headache, neither will an argument in a language that Baekhyun can’t understand help him. After a few very long minutes, a young man walks up to them. 

“Are you guys coming for the demigod camp?” he asks. 

“Yes,” Chanyeol replies, answering for both of them. “Are you the counselor?” 

“Luhan,” the man introduces himself. Then, looking down at the paper he has in his hands, he points to each of them in turn and says their names aloud. “Baekhyun and Chanyeol, right?” He takes Baekhyun’s suitcase and puts it into the back trunk of his car. Chanyeol, Baekhyun notices, is only carrying a small backpack. “Come on in.” 

The front seat is stacked with boxes, so they both get into the back. Luhan starts the car. “Is this your first time in Taiwan?” he asks conversationally as he starts up the interstate. 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, once again speaking for both of them. Baekhyun rolls his eyes and leans his head against the window. He doesn’t really feel like talking right now, anyway. He wants to go to sleep, but Chanyeol’s voice is too loud. It’s not like he wants to listen, but Baekhyun’s iPod is dead, so he hears all of Chanyeol’s adventures in Shanghai and Japan and Vietnam. 

An hour later, they reach the camp site, a large grassy area far away from the city. Baekhyun jumps out of the car as soon as it comes to a stop. He knows that he’s probably being rude, but he’s too tired and crabby to care. He grabs his suitcase from Luhan’s hands and walks off quickly towards the Athena cabin. The signs are also written in Korean, so he finds his cabin easily. 

There are a few people in the room, but he ignores the quiet chatter in foreign languages that he’s too tired to even attempt to decipher. He just dumps his stuff on an empty bed and collapses into the bunk, drawing the blankets up to his chin. 

Thankfully, none of the people are as loud as Chanyeol, so Baekhyun falls asleep quickly. 

 

When Baekhyun wakes up again, it’s already getting dark outside. He sits up, covering a yawn with the back of his hand. He feels much better now, but he also feels very hungry. 

“What time is it?” he asks the boy sitting on the bunk next to him. 

“It’s close to dinner,” the other responds.

“Oh.” Then a realization pops into Baekhyun’s mind. “ _Oh!_ ” he repeats, much louder this time. He launches himself out of his bed and sits next to the other boy. “You can speak Korean too!” He’s delighted that he’s found someone else besides Chanyeol and the counselor who he can actually talk to.

“Oh, really? I hadn't noticed.” 

Baekhyun ignores the other’s sarcasm, and he grabs his hand excitedly. “We can be best friends this summer. What’s your name? I’m Baekhyun.” 

“Kyungsoo,” the boy says shortly, then stands, looking eager to get away from Baekhyun. “Dinner’s starting soon.” 

“Really?” Baekhyun trails behind him. “What’s for dinner? What did I miss?” 

“There was a welcoming speech and lunch a few hours ago.” Baekhyun makes a face. He kind of misses lunch, but he’s glad he missed the welcoming speech. “We’re eating around a campfire.” 

“Ooh, a campfire! I’ve never eaten at one before.” It’s Baekhyun’s first time in the countryside; he spent most of his life surrounded by skyscrapers and important, intimidating men. He’s excited to do something he’s only heard of in stories. “Do you think we’ll actually get to make a fire? I bet the sons of Hephaestus will be very good at that. You know, I heard the girls’ demigod camp in Asia was held in Japan this year. I’m glad we didn’t have to go there because where are you ever going to make a campfire in Tokyo?” 

As soon as they reach the site for the campfires, Kyungsoo starts walking away quickly, clearly intent on escaping Baekhyun. However, Baekhyun is just as determined to keep close to him, so he sits down beside Kyungsoo, who has already joined a group of other boys. The good part is, Baekhyun thinks as he sits down, they’re all speaking Korean. The bad part is… Chanyeol is one of them.

Surprisingly, Chanyeol doesn’t even greet him. He’s busy talking to this other boy, and their heads are too close together and, if Baekhyun squints, he thinks he can make out their fingers, which seem to be entwined together.

Before Baekhyun can draw any conclusions, though, Luhan walks up to them with a bag of sticks. Their job, Luhan tells them, is to make a fire from a few sticks and a match. Using the fire they made, they will then be given sausages and marshmallows to roast. 

Making a fire. That sounds easy, Baekhyun thinks. He’s always heard that it would be easy. All he needs is a bit of friction and the match will light, which will then set fire to the rest of the sticks. 

It doesn’t work, though. Baekhyun goes through five matches, breaking a few others in his agitation, and his bundle of sticks is still a bundle of sticks. All of the others have small fires. 

“Can’t figure out how to make a fire?” Chanyeol’s eyes are bright and teasing in the firelight. 

Baekhyun glares at him. So _now_ Chanyeol decides to acknowledge him and make fun of him? “No, I can’t,” he says, trying to remain calm and make a good impression on everyone else. “You couldn’t, either.” Chanyeol is sharing a fire with the boy he had been talking to before, and now, they’re even sharing a marshmallow together. Gross, Baekhyun thinks, ignoring how his stomach is growling. 

“Guess wisdom isn’t inherited.” 

Baekhyun settles for rolling his eyes, wisely avoiding a fight. He was smart; he just wasn’t very… capable. He’s also very hungry, since he hasn’t eaten since four in the morning. 

“I can help you start a fire,” one of the kids—Jongin, Baekhyun remembers—offers. Looking around, Baekhyun sees that he’s the only one still sitting before a pile of sticks. Some of the others, Jongin included, have already finished their dinner. 

“No, it’s okay.” Baekhyun sighs and takes a sausage from the bag they had been given. “I’ll use your fire, is that okay?” He smiles sweetly at Kyungsoo, who only stares back at him blankly.

“Make your own.” 

“But they’re sharing.” Baekhyun points accusingly in Chanyeol and the-other-boy’s direction. 

“They’re boyfriends,” another one of the guys, Jongdae, stage whispers. 

“So are we,” Baekhyun says, slinging an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Kyungsoo turns to look at him, and in the bright firelight, it almost looks like he wants to murder Baekhyun with just his glare. “I mean…” Baekhyun stares at Chanyeol, who is currently feeding marshmallows to his _boyfriend_. “Boys who are friends. Yeah.”

Kyungsoo still looks like he wants to kill Baekhyun, and Baekhyun finally decides, no, it isn’t the glint from the fire. His sausage has pretty much finished cooking, anyway, so Baekhyun quickly pulls away from Kyungsoo. 

“Thanks for sharing,” Baekhyun says, and he can’t resist pressing a loud, dramatic kiss to the side of Kyungsoo’s head. Yup, Kyungsoo is definitely going to murder him. Jongdae loudly wolf whistles from one side, and they exchange a high-five. Jongdae is probably a safer best friend for the summer, Baekhyun decides. Meanwhile, Jongin looks like he’s miserable. Baekhyun nudges him. 

“It’s not that weird. It’s not like we share the same blood or anything.” Jongin doesn’t respond, and Baekhyun finally relents. “I was joking, okay?” They seem to come to a compromise on this, so Baekhyun leans in and loudly kisses the side of Jongin’s hair as well, an action that has Jongin cringing. It kind of makes Baekhyun cringe too, but not as much as when he sees Chanyeol kissing his boyfriend on the cheek because at least _his_ lips hadn't touched anyone’s skin and when was PDA ever considered PG?

Baekhyun ends up eating his marshmallows raw, since there’s not enough time to cook them when Kyungsoo puts out his fire as soon as he’s done. 

The bathroom situation is slightly hectic, since the entire camp, about a hundred people total, share the same bathroom building. It’s full of people talking in all these different languages Baekhyun never even knew actually existed (like, when was Cantonese ever considered a language? and didn’t the Romans kill all the Greeks?). Baekhyun sticks to Kyungsoo’s side again, bothering him with questions as he speaks around a mouthful of toothpaste. 

Kyungsoo steadily ignores him, shooting him judging stares every once in a while. 

“Hey, you’re not going to kill me, are you?” Baekhyun asks as they walk back to the dorms. 

Kyungsoo gives him another judging look, but he’s not outright glaring at him, so Baekhyun takes some comfort in his response. 

 

They hadn't been kidding about the amount of physical exercise, Baekhyun realizes a week into camp. There had only been a small warning for this in the flyer, but Baekhyun hadn't been expecting _this_ much. 

It was mostly pointless exercises. It takes Baekhyun nearly twenty minutes to string his bow. Who even bothers using archery these days? Everything was so much easier with a gun. 

Baekhyun had never thought that shooting a bow would be this hard. It’s not even the aiming that’s hard; it’s pulling the string of the bow back far enough so that the arrow will land anywhere near the target. They have a whole hour set out just for archery, and near the end, Baekhyun’s arms feel like they’ve gained a few hundred kilograms each. 

Baekhyun sighs as he collects his arrows. He’d managed to hit the target a total of five times, which isn’t bad considering that he couldn’t hit the target at all the first two days. He glares at Chanyeol’s arrows, which have all somehow found their way into the bull’s eye. 

“How does Cupid manage to do this all day?” Baekhyun grumbles as they bring the equipment back into the storage closet. “He must have really strong arms for a tiny baby.” 

“Not everyone’s as weak as you are,” Chanyeol says, appearing beside Baekhyun with his trademark too-wide smile. 

Baekhyun glares at him. “I’m not weak.” 

“Isn’t Athena also the goddess of war? Her children are some of the best archers in the world.” Chanyeol looks down at Baekhyun, shaking his head in mock scorn. 

“I don’t see why he has to bring my mom up in everything he says,” Baekhyun complains to Kyungsoo later. 

Kyungsoo hums. Baekhyun doubts he’s even listening, since Kyungsoo is carefully folding all of his clothes. Baekhyun should probably do that one day. 

“It’s like he’s trying to remind me of how inferior I am compared to the other children of Athena. I don’t see what’s so great about him.” Baekhyun pulls his legs up to his chest, resting his chin on his knees. “He needs someone to show him his real position in life.” 

Kyungsoo’s sorting his socks now, matching the pairs together. Who actually does that? Baekhyun watches Kyungsoo, thinking. _Socks._

“I’ve got it!” Baekhyun shouts, jumping out of his bed. A few other kids in their dorm give them weird looks, and Kyungsoo turns away, pretending he doesn’t know Baekhyun. It doesn’t do anything to deter Baekhyun, though, because _this_ is a stroke of genius. “Don’t miss me too much,” he tells Kyungsoo, and runs out of their dorm.

 _Socks._ Why hadn't he thought of it earlier? 

There’s no one in Poseidon’s cabin, since they all went out for a swim. Baekhyun sneaks into the cabin, looking around. He finds Chanyeol’s bed fairly quickly; Chanyeol’s nametag is hanging from one of the rails of the bunk bed. Right next to the bed is a laundry bag full of dirty clothes. Baekhyun wrinkles his nose at the thought of going through the pile, but hey, what was revenge without a little dirty work? So he dumps the pile on the ground and sorts through it to separate the socks.

Then he takes Chanyeol’s pillow out of the pillow case and stuffs the pillow case full of dirty socks. He dumps the rest of the clothes and the pillow back into the laundry bag and gets up, dusting his knees off. 

Baekhyun’s getting ready to leave the room when his gaze lands on a little box beside Chanyeol’s bed. Further investigation reveals many bottles of hair products. One of them is to straighten naturally curly hair. _Curly_ hair. Baekhyun imagines Chanyeol with curly hair and he can’t stop laughing.

He ends up stealing some of the bottles of hair products too. Baekhyun’s cackling to himself as he walks back into the dorm. He’s a real genius.

Kyungsoo stares at him cautiously as he walks in. “If the police come in here, I’ll be the first to turn you in,” he informs Baekhyun.

Baekhyun smiles sweetly at him. “I know.” 

“What did you do?” 

“I stuffed Chanyeol’s pillow full of dirty socks and stole some of his hair products. Ta-da.” Baekhyun places the bottles on Kyungsoo’s bed.

Kyungsoo stares at them like they’re newly discovered parasites. “You took his hair product.” 

“Yup.” Baekhyun waits patiently for the inevitable praise for this stroke of genius.

“You replaced his pillow with dirty socks.”

“Yeah.” Now this is starting to sound like a death sentence. Baekhyun’s starting to feel a little worried, especially when Kyungsoo’s expression doesn’t change one bit.

“And this is supposed to show his real position in life?”

So Kyungsoo _had_ been listening. Baekhyun nods, determined to stand by his plan until death. 

Kyungsoo looks like he’s about to say something more, but eventually, he just says, “I’m glad we’re not really related.” 

There’s a long moment of silence, which Baekhyun breaks before it starts to actually get awkward. “Do you think I should make a list of all the reasons why I hate Chanyeol?” 

Kyungsoo barely looks up from his phone. “What?”

“You know, in case the police actually do come.” Not that Baekhyun actually thinks they will, but a true genius always takes care of all the little details.

“You’re going to use the list as your defense.” 

“Yeah. It’s self-defense.” 

“I think the list would only incriminate you.” Kyungsoo goes back to staring intently at his phone.

Baekhyun shrugs at Kyungsoo’s words and pulls out a piece of paper, stealing one of Kyungsoo’s pencils. Kyungsoo doesn’t even look up. The phone must be _really_ interesting. 

Baekhyun titles his paper _To the Police_ and adds, underneath, _Reasons Why I Hate Park Chanyeol_. 

“Annoying,” “loud,” and “smile” go immediately on his list. After a moment, Baekhyun adds “curly hair” as well.

“Chanyeol doesn’t have curly hair,” Kyungsoo says when Baekhyun tapes the list to the side of his bed. 

“He does now,” Baekhyun says, smiling proudly as he looks at the stolen hair products. 

 

The quest sounds simple—and fun. Their goal is simply to locate four large white stones, each with a Chinese character inscribed on the front. Luhan’s and Xiumin’s groups, consist of all the Korean campers (a total of twenty), are placed in the same division of the forest. The stones could be hidden anywhere in the forest, which isn’t more than just a few clusters of trees in a large field. 

“The only rule,” Xiumin adds, “is that you can’t kill anyone. You can bring weapons; you can fight over the stones, but don’t hurt anyone more than necessary. Remember, this is just to test your outdoor survival skills and it’s just a scavenger hunt, not a chance to settle rivalries. You can still serve prison sentence for murder.” 

They will all get buzzers, and once all of the stones are brought back to the camp site, the quest will be officially over. The quest could take anywhere from one day to several weeks. A prize will be rewarded to the pair who finds the most stones, and the time it takes for the stones to be turned in will serve as the tiebreaker. Now as for their partners…

“Baekhyun, Chanyeol, can I speak to both of you?” 

Baekhyun has a feeling he already knows what Luhan’s going to say as he walks into Luhan’s cabin. It’s a counselor’s cabin, so rather than having to share the room with over a dozen other boys, Luhan and Xiumin share a room together. It’s surprisingly neat, possibly the neatest cabin in the camp. Baekhyun takes a seat on the very edge of a chair, hands folded in his lap carefully. 

Luhan takes a seat on the bed and immediately turns to face Baekhyun, and Baekhyun realizes that he knows. For the first time, the plan doesn’t seem like a good idea after all. While their counselor might seem like a harmless, kind guy, he was downright _scary_ at other times.

Chanyeol just sprawls on the floor, carelessly throwing his legs out before him. Baekhyun glares at him. The fucker. He probably went and tattled to Luhan. And his hair still isn’t curly. 

“Baekhyun.” Luhan’s all sweet smiles and encouraging words, but there’s a hard light in his eyes. “I’m assuming you weren’t aware of this, but pranks are not tolerated here.”

Baekhyun nods, schooling his face into something that resembles innocence. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Good.” Luhan grins and the harshness in his eyes is gone, but it’s now replaced by something much scarier. “Do you two have a grudge against each other? Perhaps a past history you’d like to sort out?”

Uh-oh. This is starting to sound like a couple’s therapy session. Baekhyun shifts uncomfortably, sneaking a glance at Chanyeol, who is taking this opportunity to stay perfectly quiet. “Um, no. Nothing,” he says.

“Good. Then I’m sure you won’t mind being each other’s partners for the quest,” Luhan says casually, but there’s an unvoiced threat that clearly says _this is not up for debate_. 

At that, Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s heads snap up, staring at him in disbelief. After a moment, it becomes clear that Luhan’s not joking. 

“Please, no,” Baekhyun says. He _can’t_ lose this opportunity to win. He was going to be on Kyungsoo’s team and they were going to kill everyone together to win the quest. He’s to the point of _begging_ because he can’t do this without Kyungsoo and he can’t survive with Chanyeol and Luhan is the scariest person ever. 

“Luhan.” Chanyeol’s sitting up now. “You don’t have to do this, really—”

“I’m sure this will help the two of you work out your differences,” Luhan continues, seeming oblivious to the two campers’ sufferings. “It will be a very interesting and educational experience and that’s what camp’s all about. It won’t be too hard to switch partners—I’m sure Jongin and Kyungsoo wouldn’t mind working together. Now hurry up and get to the showers before the hot water runs out.” Luhan stands, signaling that the conversation is over, and starts walking them to the door. He quickly closes the door on both of them so they can’t go back inside and protest.

“Oh god.” Baekhyun collapses on the ground. He doesn’t even care that he’s being dramatic, but camp is definitely not going as well as he thought it would be. 

“I knew I should have talked to Xiumin instead,” Chanyeol mutters.

Baekhyun jumps up. His life is at stake and Chanyeol doesn’t even seem to care. “This is all _your_ fault for telling someone in the first place!” 

Chanyeol backs away from him, holding his hands up to keep Baekhyun at a safe distance away. “Hey, calm down. You’re just mad that you couldn’t spend all that time flirting with Kyungsoo. I probably did him a favor.” 

Baekhyun glares up at him, but Chanyeol’s probably saying the truth. His brain quickly backtracks. Wait. _Flirting?_ He gasps, hand flying up to cover his mouth. “Shit. I don’t have a crush on Kyungsoo, do I?” Kyungsoo’s definitely going to kill him now.

“I don’t know, do you?” Chanyeol turns and walks away, being not helpful at all.

“Do I have a crush on you?” Baekhyun asks later that night, sprawled on his bed and staring at an upside-down Kyungsoo, who’s reading a book again. If Baekhyun does like him, he’s going to have to start reconsidering his tastes.

Kyungsoo lowers his book and gives Baekhyun a very serious stare, making Baekhyun feel like he’s missing out on something very obvious. Again. Baekhyun’s nearly used to it now. “No, you don’t.” 

Baekhyun breathes a sigh of relief. Kyungsoo’s always right. He gets up and gives Kyungsoo a very generous hug. “Thank you!” He skips away before Kyungsoo’s able to say anything else and adds “really tall” to his list for the reasons he hates Chanyeol. 

 

They start early the next morning, different divisions of the camp going to their allotted section of the field. Baekhyun drags two large bags along behind him, armed with enough bug spray to last him a lifetime. 

“What’s in there?” Chanyeol asks, finally walking away from his boyfriend. Baekhyun doesn’t even want to know what they were saying. They were acting like they were never going to see each other again.

“Bug spray.” Chanyeol continues to stare at him doubtfully, so Baekhyun says defensively, “Don’t ask for help when you’re covered with mosquito bites.” 

“Real men don’t get mosquito bites,” Chanyeol tosses back, and then starts walking away quickly.

Baekhyun’s tempted to say, “Real men don’t have boyfriends!” but realizes he really isn’t one to talk. Instead, he uses his breath wisely in catching up to Chanyeol, the cans of bug spray clanging together loudly as he goes. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to find a place and set up camp. Then I’m going to look for the stone.” The groups have all diverged at this point, each going off to cover as much territory as they can. 

“What about me?” Baekhyun’s struggling to speak and walk at the same time, while Chanyeol looks like he’s strolling at a leisurely pace. The jerk is only carrying one backpack, and he hadn't even offered to help Baekhyun. 

“You can stay and guard camp from the mosquitoes.” Chanyeol looks down at him. “Do you even have a weapon?”

“Um…” Baekhyun had been so busy thinking about the bug spray he’d forgotten that weapons were allowed. “Not really? But bug spray cans are dangerous?” He might have gone a little overboard with some preparation, since it was his first time camping out. 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. Baekhyun wants to take the haughty look off his face, but it’s probably better if he waits until after the contest to kill his partner. “Why don’t you sit down over there.” He points to a tree just a few meters away. “I’ll walk around a bit.” 

Baekhyun wants to do something as well, but his bags are really heavy, so he walks to the tree and sits down. Chanyeol throws down his backpack beside him and takes his dagger out. 

“There’s bread in there. Make some sandwiches.” 

Baekhyun glares at him. “What am I, your wife?”

Chanyeol just laughs and walks away. Baekhyun stares after him, considering putting a stone in Chanyeol’s sandwich just to spite him. 

“Revenge always comes later,” he mutters to himself, and starts messily slathering peanut butter onto the bread.

Chanyeol comes back for lunch and again for dinner, each time with no success.

“Have any of the other teams found anything?” Baekhyun asks that evening.

“I think Junmyeon and Jongdae have already returned.” Chanyeol sighs. “They say there’s still two more to be found.” He makes a face at the sandwich Baekhyun hands him. “Do you not know how to put peanut butter on bread?” 

Baekhyun hits him on the head. “At least I was actually doing something useful.” 

Chanyeol finishes the sandwich alarmingly quickly and stands. “Let’s put up our tents. It’s getting dark.” Baekhyun doesn’t move, and Chanyeol turns to him, a look of dread crossing over his face. “Don’t tell me…”

“Oops?” Baekhyun offers. He smiles innocently. 

Chanyeol runs a hand through his hair exasperatedly. “Did you only bring bug spray?” 

“No.” Baekhyun actually brought some other things, but he may or may not have left the tent beside his bed. “I have a sleeping bag,” he adds. “I can sleep outside.” 

“You’re going to catch a cold.”

Baekhyun stares at him. “You can’t catch a cold in the summer.” 

Chanyeol shrugs, pulling his tent out of his backpack. “You can sleep in my tent if you want.” 

“Can you even fit in that?” The folded-up tent looks very small and very light, if Chanyeol was able to carry it in his backpack.

“It’s an inflatable.” Chanyeol starts setting up the stakes around the tent. 

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow doubtfully, but doesn’t comment any further. He doesn’t help, either, choosing to sit down on the ground and watch. When he plops down, though, he doesn’t fall on soft soil. Instead, his butt comes in contact with something stone hard. “Ow! The roots are really thick here.” He turns to glare at the offending dirt, only to find that he actually _had_ sat on a stone. “Did you know that there are big stones in Taiwan?” Wait. _Stones._ He jumps up. “Hey, didn’t they say that we were looking for stones?”

Chanyeol immediately drops the materials in his hands and runs over. He crouches down to look closely at the stone and traces out the Chinese character engraved on the front. “We just found one…” He sounds incredulous, and Baekhyun can’t resist the urge to gloat.

“See! I knew I would be the one to—”

Chanyeol claps a hand over Baekhyun’s mouth. “Hush,” he hisses. “Don’t scream or the teams will hear and try to steal it.” When he’s sure that Baekhyun’s going to stay quiet, he removes his hand. “Should we go back now?”

Baekhyun looks up at the sky. There’s barely any sunlight left. “No. If it’s dark, the teams might surprise us on our way there and take it.” He pats the stone fondly, feeling the sense of pride a mother might have for her child. “I’m going to sleep with this and keep it safe.” 

“Are you sure?” Chanyeol’s looking at him very doubtfully, as though Baekhyun wasn’t the one who had found the stone.

“Mothers always care for their children best.” Baekhyun glares at him, daring him to protest, but Chanyeol goes back to setting up his tent. Baekhyun lays his sleeping bag out and grabs a can of bug spray. He sprays it all around him and pours the remainder over the rock. “I’m changing,” he calls over to Chanyeol, who has already gone into his now-inflated tent. “No peeking!” It’d be nearly impossible to really see anything, since the sun has already set, but Baekhyun hides behind the tree anyway. 

“No one would want to!” Chanyeol says, and Baekhyun throws a shoe at his tent, smiling triumphantly at Chanyeol’s cry of indignation. 

“Good night,” Baekhyun whispers to his rock, getting into his sleeping bag. 

 

Baekhyun wakes up to the sound of screaming. It takes some time before he realizes it’s not that train that always passes his house at six in the morning, which also acts as a sort of alarm. He cracks an eye open lazily, ready to brush the scream off as Chanyeol discovering his body covered with mosquito bites, but then he realizes the rock isn’t there. 

_His_ rock. 

Baekhyun jumps up, only to remember that he’s still in his sleeping bag. He crashes painfully to the ground, but he doesn’t take time to pity himself because a rock is at stake here. He crawls out of the sleeping bag and stuffs his bare feet into shoes. There’s no time to worry about socks. Not when his baby is screaming. Maybe his rock somehow developed vocal skills overnight.

The screams, it turns out, are not coming from his rock, but from Chanyeol. And the reason for those screams is none other than Kyungsoo. 

Baekhyun isn’t even surprised to see Kyungsoo holding a knife to Chanyeol’s throat. And Chanyeol isn’t even fighting back. Instead, he’s curled in a ball…

Around Baekhyun’s rock.

Unconsciously, a smile creeps on Baekhyun’s face as he realizes that Chanyeol is _protecting_ the rock. Then he quickly shakes his head. There’s too much at stake here to just stare at the scene. 

But Baekhyun’s still frozen, wondering what he’s supposed to do. Jongin, Kyungsoo’s partner, doesn’t seem to be anywhere near, but he doesn’t have a weapon, so he can’t exactly rush Kyungsoo with his bare hands. Also, he knows that Kyungsoo wouldn’t hesitate to kill either one of them because Kyungsoo is a believer of world peace.

Chanyeol spots Baekhyun and makes a vague gesture with his left hand. It takes a few minutes for Baekhyun to realize that Chanyeol isn’t trying to hit Kyungsoo’s hand, but he’s trying to tell him something. _Dagger._ That’s what Chanyeol means by the stabbing motions. But how is Baekhyun supposed to know where the idiot left the dagger? 

Then Kyungsoo turns, once he too realizes what Chanyeol is actually doing by shaking his fist back and forth. He sees Baekhyun, and ideally, this is the moment that Chanyeol should push Kyungsoo off, take the rock, and run for his dagger. But Kyungsoo keeps a tight grip on the knife, and Chanyeol can’t move without risking a potentially fatal cut. 

So Baekhyun does the best thing that he can think of. He steps towards Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, and they both stare up at him, waiting for him to do something. This close, he can see that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had been fighting before Kyungsoo had managed to get Chanyeol in this position. Kyungsoo’s hair is messed up and his lip is bleeding, while Chanyeol’s left sleeve is soaked with blood. Baekhyun chooses not to think about that.

“Let Chanyeol go,” he says, and even Baekhyun has to admit that his statement is pretty weak.

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “Tell him to give me the rock and I’ll let him go.”

Shit. It’s too early to be thinking and Baekhyun hasn’t even eaten breakfast yet. It’s food for the brain, for gods’ sake. “You have to let him go.” He puts a little more force in his statement, but Kyungsoo still doesn’t look impressed.

“Or?” 

“Or… I have a picture.” Baekhyun takes his phone out of his pocket and waves it in the air. “Of you and Jongin kissing.” 

Kyungsoo gasps at this, and Baekhyun congratulates himself for finally eliciting such a dramatic (on Kyungsoo terms) reaction from him. Chanyeol’s eyes are huge, but that just might be his usual morning face. 

“I can send it to the entire camp,” Baekhyun presses on, knowing he’s got something. “I have all of their emails. Maybe that’s why you couldn’t find the rock. You were too busy kissing Jongin earlier.” 

Kyungsoo jumps off of Chanyeol and advances towards Baekhyun, holding his knife out. “Delete the picture.” 

Baekhyun holds his hands up. “If I delete the picture, will you leave us alone?”

Kyungsoo thinks about this for a moment. “Yeah.”

Baekhyun unlocks his phone and deletes a picture, then tosses his phone to Kyungsoo. “It’s gone.”

Kyungsoo looks through his pictures, seeming satisfied, and gives it back to Baekhyun. Then he leaves, knife still gripped in one hand.

Baekhyun goes over to Chanyeol. “Are you okay?”

Chanyeol blinks. His eyes look slightly unfocused and his voice comes out in a dry croak. “I’m fine. He just… scared me.”

“What happened? You’re bleeding,” Baekhyun says, staring at the gash in Chanyeol’s arm. Part of the cloth has been ripped away and he cringes at the sight. 

Chanyeol pushes the rock towards Baekhyun. “We should go back to the camp. I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”

“Are you sure?” Baekhyun touches Chanyeol’s forehead. “You might get a fever from the cut. Did you lose a lot of blood?” 

“Let’s go.” Chanyeol jumps to his feet. “We’d better go before someone else tries to steal it. I woke up today morning and I saw Kyungsoo just leaving our campsite. Luckily, I stopped him before it was too late.” 

Baekhyun attaches himself to Chanyeol’s side, supporting him as he walks. “Are you sure you’re going to be fine? Does it hurt? Do you need painkillers? Should we bandage the wound?” They reach the tree and Baekhyun starts rolling up his sleeping bag. “Do you need help taking down the tent?”

“No, I can do it.” Chanyeol manages pretty well, working mostly with his right hand, although he winces whenever he applies too much pressure. “That was pretty good thinking,” he says as Baekhyun helps him stuff the tent into his backpack. “When did you take a picture of them kissing?” 

“I didn’t,” Baekhyun says.

Chanyeol stares at him. “You were bluffing?” He sounds incredulous, and Baekhyun wonders why it’s so hard to believe that he could even outsmart Kyungsoo if he actually wanted to. 

“Of course.” Baekhyun grins. “It was pretty good, wasn’t it?” He gives Chanyeol a protein bar. It’s not much of a breakfast, but it’s enough to keep their strength up as they walk back to camp. 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol agrees. They eat their bars as they start walking back. “Thanks. I think you saved my life.” 

“No problem,” Baekhyun says, and he grins up at Chanyeol. Maybe Luhan was right. Maybe they can actually work together.

 

They’re the last ones to turn in a rock. 

Junmyeon and Jongdae win, the only pair that had collected two rocks. There’s a huge celebration party that night, since everyone is relieved that they no longer have to sleep in the open, where they might get attacked any moment. 

The sick room, however, is crowded with people. Some are there for lame reasons, like a mosquito bite on an arm, or pollen allergies from nature. There are a few who have been injured from the quest, but thankfully, no one is in critical condition.

So Baekhyun spends the night in the sick room beside Chanyeol’s bed, nauseated by the smell and wishing that he could be outside with the others, eating fresh s’mores by the fire and annoying Kyungsoo.

“You can go,” Chanyeol says, looking up at Baekhyun. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Baekhyun looks down at Chanyeol’s bandaged arm. 

“I’m not dead.” Chanyeol grins brightly and waves his hand. “See!” 

Baekhyun laughs, but it dies quickly in the air. 

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol sits up in the bed. 

“Nothing.” Baekhyun brushes his fingers on the edge of the white bandage. “Does it hurt?” 

“They gave me pain suppressants. I’m fine.” Chanyeol taps a finger against the tip of Baekhyun’s nose. “I’m fine.”

A day ago, Baekhyun would have bitten his finger, but now, he only brushes it away. “It was my fault, wasn’t it? I should have stopped Kyungsoo from taking the rock, and I should have woken up earlier.” 

“Hey.” Chanyeol frowns, taking Baekhyun’s hand with his uninjured one. “It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you. If you didn’t get there when you did, Kyungsoo might have tried to kill me.”

Baekhyun smiles. “Would you have kept holding on to the rock?”

“Would you have killed me if I let it go?” Chanyeol pauses, not seeking for an answer, and continues, “You looked so happy when you found the rock.” 

“I was,” Baekhyun says, and he exchanges a smile with Chanyeol. It feels… weird, now that they have some memories together, and he has a reason to actually not hate Chanyeol. Maybe Luhan’s twisted plan actually worked (although Baekhyun would never admit it out loud). “Thanks,” he adds. 

“It’s teamwork,” Chanyeol says, holding his fist out for a fist-bump.

Baekhyun stares at it doubtfully for a moment before raising his own fist, wincing as their knuckles connect. “Ow.” He shakes his hand, trying to get rid of the tingling feeling spreading up his arm. “You don’t have to hurt my arm too.” 

“Weak,” Chanyeol teases, but there’s no real bite to his words. For once, Baekhyun doesn’t find his teasing nearly as aggravating. 

The idea is kind of scary, so Baekhyun files it away for later thinking. Or, better yet, for passing it off to Kyungsoo to do the thinking for him. Instead, he laughs back at Chanyeol. (Obviously, he’s laughing at the way Chanyeol’s face crinkles as he laughs, making him look ten years older than he really is.) 

“Chanyeol?” a voice says hesitantly, and their laughing stops almost immediately, like someone just hit the off switch. 

It’s Chanyeol’s boyfriend, stepping in hesitantly with a plate in his hands. Baekhyun squints at the lame-ass nametag he’s wearing—who actually keeps them anyway?—Oh Sehun. 

“I brought you s’mores,” Oh Sehun says, like it’s not already obvious from the way he’s carrying the plate.

“Oh. Thanks.” Chanyeol smiles as he tilts his head up for a kiss, and Baekhyun winces, looking away. They could at least _try_ to be considerate sometimes, or provide a fair warning before doing stuff like that. “Do you want any, Baekhyun?” 

Baekhyun shakes his head, standing. The sick room’s smell is nauseating, and he needs fresh air now. “I’m going out. Bye.” 

He thinks he hears Chanyeol say something, but he’s already out of the sick room before he finishes his second syllable. 

Fresh air is such a relief that Baekhyun collapses to the ground once he’s a few meters away from the cabin. There’s too much carbon dioxide in the air, but the sweet smell of burnt marshmallows almost masks that factor. 

“What are you doing out here?” 

Baekhyun shrieks and jumps into the air, his hands automatically crossing over his chest in a semi-defensive stance. 

“Relax, I’m not going to kill you,” Kyungsoo says, stepping out from the shadows. The moonlight illuminating his face doesn’t make him appear any less intimidating. “You don’t have that picture anymore, do you?”

It takes Baekhyun a few seconds to remember what Kyungsoo is referring to, and he shakes his head frantically. “No, I don’t! I don’t, I swear. I deleted it, I really don’t—” 

“Okay, I get it. Are you okay?” Kyungsoo asks, stepping closer. “You look—”

“I’m fine! I’m just—very hungry. I like marshmallows, but there’s a lot of smoke in the air and the sick room smells like sickness.” 

“Okay.” Kyungsoo still looks bewildered as he looks at Baekhyun. “There are still some marshmallows. I was going to find Chanyeol and apologize—” 

“No! Don’t!” Baekhyun screams, jumping in Kyungsoo’s way. “He’s with his boyfriend and I think they’re making out in the sick room while everyone around them is dying…”

“I won’t,” Kyungsoo says, and now, he looks concerned. He touches Baekhyun’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay? Did you eat any mushrooms out there?”

“No mushrooms,” Baekhyun mumbles. “I want marshmallows.” 

“All right, let’s get you some marshmallows.” Kyungsoo leads Baekhyun to the campfires. “Congratulations on the win,” he says as he hands Baekhyun a pack of marshmallows.

Baekhyun smiles back at Kyungsoo because nice Kyungsoo is a very rare thing, and Kyungsoo will probably deny that he was ever this kind tomorrow morning. “Thanks.” 

 

Other than learning how to use medieval-aged weapons, they also learn how to use their powers—or, more accurately, how to _not_ use them. It’s called “power control,” and in Baekhyun’s humble opinion, it’s complete nonsense. 

“A war is coming and they want us to _not_ use our powers?” Okay, so maybe Jongdae was wrong to make flowers grow out of Zitao’s head, scaring the boy when he couldn’t get it out. But it’s called a _prank_ in the name of _practice_.

“It’s going to take a few years for the war to reach Asia,” Kyungsoo points out, half-hidden under the blankets with his book. Baekhyun wonders if he’s hot. The cabins aren’t air conditioned, and even lying on top of his sheets is making him hot. The fan overhead isn’t doing much, other than circulating the hot air everywhere. They should have held this summer camp in Antarctica. 

“Sounds like I should sell my intelligence.” 

“Could you.” 

Kyungsoo’s voice sounds very doubtful, so Baekhyun reaches over the space between their bunks to poke the lump of blankets that Kyungsoo’s burrowed under. “I beat you on the quest. Don’t forget that.”

“I knew you were bluffing.”

“But you still played along because…” Baekhyun doesn’t quite want to follow through with his thought. Thankfully, Kyungsoo finishes the sentence for him.

“Because Chanyeol was willing to die for that rock.” 

“So you actually have feelings,” Baekhyun mumbles, scooting over the edge of the bunk. The list for the reasons he hates Chanyeol hangs upside down in his face. He squints at the characters thoughtfully. “Do you think I should add to the list?” 

“What list?” Kyungsoo asks, obviously not paying attention to Baekhyun’s words. Baekhyun’s gotten used to talking to a blank wall over the past weeks. 

Baekhyun peels the tape holding the paper to the bunk off, smoothing the paper on his bed. The tape’s losing its stickiness from the number of times Baekhyun’s removed it and put it back on. It’s been a while since Baekhyun’s added to it, and he stares at the blank lines, wondering what he could add. 

He rarely sees Chanyeol around anymore, which kind of makes sense because they’re not even remotely related and most classes are based on ability now, not language. But he does know that Chanyeol’s arm has healed, and he sees Chanyeol kissing his boyfriend in random places sometimes, unmindful of the poor witnesses who might chance upon them. It’s kind of revolting, so Baekhyun tries not to stray away from Kyungsoo these days. 

“Do you think Sehun counts?” Baekhyun wonders aloud, tapping the end of his eraser against his paper. 

“Counts as what?” 

“The reasons why I hate Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, carefully penciling in Sehun’s name onto his paper. 

“You’re still doing that?” Kyungsoo turns his head to look at Baekhyun, lowering his book. That’s when Baekhyun sees the phone that Kyungsoo was obviously trying to hide sitting on the pages. Hmm. Suspicious. Baekhyun files the information away for later use. 

“Yeah. Why not?” 

“Because you _don’t_ hate him.” 

Baekhyun frowns, lowering his pencil. Sehun’s name is written crookedly on the paper, and his pencil even made a whole where it poked straight through the page. “How do you know how I feel?” 

Kyungsoo just keeps staring at him, the kind of stare that makes Baekhyun feel like he can read into Baekhyun’s soul. 

“It’s not like—it doesn’t even matter if I did.” Baekhyun’s aware that he’s rambling now, but he needs to get the words out, and hopefully, Kyungsoo can help him make sense of the situation. “I mean, he already has a boyfriend. And he _is_ really good looking and I would date him, but it’s not like…” He stops, backtracking, and realizes with a sinking feeling what his words just implied. “Oh my god.” 

“You’re being dramatic,” Kyungsoo says, turning back to his book slash phone, clearly satisfied that he had done his good deed of the day.

“No, Soo, come on. Tell me what to do. How did you know? It wasn’t that obvious, was it?” 

“It was a bluff,” Kyungsoo says, then cold-heartedly returns to his book. 

“What am I going to do?” Baekhyun stares down at the paper, seeing Oh Sehun’s name written dozens of times across the page, blinks, and sees only one Oh Sehun. “I’m going crazy, aren’t I?” 

Kyungsoo makes a noncommittal sound that is entirely unhelpful, and Baekhyun glares at him. He is suddenly Very Suspicious about whoever Kyungsoo is talking to on the phone, but he can torture that out of Kyungsoo after he finishes dealing with his midlife crisis. 

Stage one of Baekhyun’s life: pre-Chanyeol days.

Stage two of Baekhyun’s life: post-Chanyeol days.

Baekhyun is screwed. “Do you think I should confess? But wouldn’t he just reject me? He’s so _in love_ with Sehun that it’s gross. What if he’s a gross sap? I can’t like a gross sap, can I?” Baekhyun says, but he already knows that he _does_ like Chanyeol. And that Kyungsoo won’t be much of a help in this situation because he _is_ a gross sap. 

That isn’t anything new; Baekhyun’s had many crushes before and his share of relationships, but he’s _never_ thought of confessing to someone who was already in a relationships. Because relationships are sacred, untouchable grounds, and Baekhyun’s not dumb enough to end up in World War III. 

Baekhyun sighs, getting up from his bunk and tossing his list in the trash. Oh Sehun’s name doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near him anyway. 

 

There’s very little gossip in the camp, mostly due to the lack of girls and the huge language barriers, so it’s kind of a surprise when news of Chanyeol’s breakup spreads very quickly, especially among the Korean-speaking members and those who had been unfortunate witnesses of their PDA sessions. 

Baekhyun freaks out a little when he hears this news. “They broke up? Why? They were doing so well. They were like… the camp couple.”

“Why are you asking me these questions?” Kyungsoo doesn’t even bother looking at Baekhyun when he’s talking now, but at least he pays attention sometimes. 

“Because you know everything,” Baekhyun says, pacing around the bunk. He’s still getting weird stares from the other guys they share the cabin with, and it might or might not be because of Baekhyun’s slight obsession that leaks into his very life. Which, quite recently, was focusing on how to make Chanyeol and Sehun break up. 

Kyungsoo doesn’t bother replying after that, so Baekhyun pulls out his phone to text Chanyeol. They haven’t really talked before, and most of the messages consist of complaints about food (who doesn’t cook their vegetables—this is _Asia_ , thank you), but now’s as good of a time as any to talk. “I heard about what happened,” Baekhyun types, after a lot of thinking and backspacing. “Sorry that your relationship turned out like that.” It sounds very lame, like the way people give cardboard condolences during funerals, but Baekhyun hits send anyway. 

“It’s okay,” Chanyeol replies shortly, only seconds after Baekhyun’s text. 

“You sure?” Baekhyun hadn’t seen Chanyeol at all after the breakup had occurred that afternoon. “Don’t listen to sad songs. They’ll make you sadder.” 

“I’m blasting SHINee’s Ring Ding Dong at full volume,” Chanyeol texts. 

“Would you like to make out sometime?” Baekhyun types. He stares at the message. It’s way too straightforward, and Chanyeol would probably not appreciate the kind gesture right after a breakup. He moves to delete it, but his thumb slips and he ends up sending the message. And even worse… he’d sent the message to _Luhan_. “How did I even open this message?” Baekhyun wonders aloud. 

Luhan’s reply is quick and short. “Meet me in my room.” 

“I think I’m in trouble,” Baekhyun says, getting up slowly. He shows Kyungsoo his phone screen, but the other only raises his eyebrows.

“Isn’t Luhan too old for you?” 

“It was an accident, okay!” 

“So this was meant for Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo knows way too much. 

“Shut up,” Baekhyun mumbles, pocketing his phone. What is he going to _do_? What is Luhan going to do? 

“Just go talk to him,” Kyungsoo says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’m sure he doesn’t mind.” 

Except Luhan does, but for entirely different reasons. 

He leads Baekhyun into his cabin, all smiles and friendly greetings until the door closes behind them. Then he turns on Baekhyun, face almost scary in the dim light. “That text was for Chanyeol, wasn’t it?” 

“Um… maybe?” Baekhyun squeaks softly. How is everyone able to read him so well? It’s not _that_ obvious, is it? 

Luhan sighs heavily, adopting the tone a wise man would use to talk to a young, ignorant child. “Look, I know that you like him, and I know that Chanyeol broke up with Sehun, but this isn’t the right way to do things. Because if you give him a suggestion right now, he’s going to take it, and it’s not going to be because he likes you back. Do you understand?”

Baekhyun winces at the force behind Luhan’s words. “Look, it was just a joke. You don’t have to get so serious about it—” 

“This isn’t a joke! You think you’ll be fine, being with him when he doesn’t feel the same as you do?” Luhan’s practically screaming, and Baekhyun silently prays that those within hearing won’t understand enough Korean to tell what they’re saying. 

Baekhyun starts contemplating the sanity of his counselor, since Luhan looks far too worked up over such a small matter. He’s mentally plotting the shortest path to the door when the door swings open. Xiumin steps into the room, humming cheerfully, only to stop short when he senses the tense atmosphere in the room. 

“I’ll—leave you guys to finish,” he says, giving an awkward half-bow as he steps out of the room. 

“Thanks,” Luhan says, looking slightly flustered.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, quickly catching on to the turn of events. He looks at the closed door thoughtfully. “So that’s why you care so much, huh?”

“What?” Luhan’s eyes narrow, daring Baekhyun to go on, but it’s not nearly intimidating enough to stop him.

“What’s the relationship between you and Xiumin? A _summer fling_? Did he suffer a bad breakup?” 

From the way Luhan’s hands are tightening into fists, all of Baekhyun’s assumptions were correct. And Baekhyun’s pretty face might or might not be in danger within the next few seconds. 

“I think you should stay out of adults’ business,” Luhan says eventually, a tight smile on his lips. He forcibly relaxes himself, placing his hands into his jean pockets. His muscles are still tense, however, and Baekhyun eyes his arms warily. Luhan might not look strong, but he’s seen him boulder climbing with surprising agility, and, well, Baekhyun doesn’t feel confident enough to mess with him just yet. 

“You should tell him about it?” Baekhyun suggests hesitantly. “I mean, it would feel better than letting an opportunity go by.” 

“And you should talk to Chanyeol about this too,” Luhan says, getting up and starting to push Baekhyun out of the room. “Give him time, talk it out, and don’t do anything dumb.” 

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Baekhyun starts walking back to his cabin, staring down at his phone thoughtfully. There are only ten minutes before the Wi-Fi will be turned off, and he has five unread text messages, one of which is from Chanyeol.

He doesn’t open any of them. 

 

It’s much later that night that Baekhyun goes outside, thinking that a walk would clear his thoughts. He ends up going to the lake on the edge at the edge of the camp, where many would swim during the day. It’s not the daytime anymore, but when Baekhyun squints in the dim moonlight, he can see a lone figure moving through the water. 

Even from a distance, Baekhyun can tell who it is. Because, really, there’s only one person who would be willing to stay in the lake this late into the night. 

Chanyeol reaches the shore quickly, shaking water from his hair. Baekhyun cringes and scoots away, trying to keep dry as Chanyeol plops down next to him. 

“What are you doing out here?” Chanyeol asks, running a hand through his hair. 

Baekhyun stares down at the sand between his toes. “Just taking a walk. Are you cold? You’re going to get sick if you don’t dry your hair.” 

Chanyeol grins brightly at him, teeth flashing in the moonlight. “You can’t catch a cold in the summer,” he says, repeating Baekhyun’s words back to him.

Baekhyun hits him lightly on the shoulder, wincing when his hand comes back wet. He wipes his hand on his jeans. “Shut up.” 

Chanyeol’s laugh echoes in the air, and Baekhyun wonders if he’s genuinely happy or if it’s the leftover adrenaline from swimming.

“Actually, I have something that I wanted to tell you,” Baekhyun says, folding his hands in his lap nervously. 

“You came all the way out here to say it?” Chanyeol fixes his bangs, and it really isn’t fair that he’s still so attractive, even if he’s dripping like a wet dog. 

“I know it’s not a good time to say it, but I have a crush on you.” 

Chanyeol’s eyes widen. Even though the last part of Baekhyun’s statement had come out in a rush, there’s no way he could have misheard what Baekhyun said. “Really?” 

Baekhyun laughs, trying to dispel the awkward atmosphere. He feels uncomfortable, already regretting his decision to confess so soon. “It’s okay. It’s too sudden, and it’s fine if you don’t feel the same way—” Except it wouldn’t be fine, because even before Baekhyun had really known his feelings, he hadn't been fine with Chanyeol and Sehun together, or Chanyeol and anyone else, for that matter. 

“Wait, Baek.” Chanyeol grabs Baekhyun’s hand before he can run off, and this time, Baekhyun doesn’t even notice the water dripping from his skin. “I broke up with Sehun because I wanted to be with you. I like you too, so—will you be my boyfriend?” 

“Isn’t there supposed to be a mourning period?” 

Chanyeol frowns. “A mourning period?” 

“Like a three week break before you move on.” 

“But we’re going to be gone in three weeks.” 

Camp is ending too soon, and they’re probably moving too soon. But they’re still young, determined to make every second count, so it doesn’t matter that much. “Yeah, okay,” Baekhyun says, his voice calm, but his bright smile giving him away. “But,” he adds, just as Chanyeol’s grin widens, “no PDA.” 

“Why not?” Chanyeol looks genuinely curious, and Baekhyun tries not to think back to not so pleasant memories.

“Because it mentally scars people. Permanently.” 

Chanyeol’s barely thrown off by this condition before he’s nodding. “Okay. Does this count as a public place if there’s no one around?” 

He leans forward, and there’s no mistaking his intention. His eyes are half-closed, and his head is only a few centimeters away when Baekhyun pushes him back, scooting away to get some space.

“Yeah, this counts as public.” He laughs when Chanyeol blinks sadly at him. It’s almost persuasive. Almost. “And you’re dripping wet.” 

“I don’t care,” Chanyeol says, and he takes Baekhyun’s hand again. It feels nice, how their fingers fit together so naturally, and Chanyeol’s hand is so warm. “I thought you were really rude when I first met you,” he says, speaking to the waters. 

“No, you were just too loud.” Baekhyun smiles faintly as he thinks back to their first meeting. He still doesn’t think he would have acted differently. And he has an excuse. Not everyone can remain cheerful when they’re sleep deprived. 

“You’re louder,” Chanyeol says, nudging Baekhyun’s side with a laugh. “And you’re so cheeky, always talking back. But you’re fascinating,” he adds, before Baekhyun can protest. “Like a bright light in the darkness.” 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, hitting Chanyeol lightly on the arm. He pulls his hand back quickly. “Has your wound healed yet?” 

“It’s much better now, so you can hit me as much as you want.” 

Their friendly bantering comes so naturally, and Baekhyun smiles as he leans into Chanyeol. It’s comfortable, and he can’t believe that he wasted so much time hating Chanyeol when they could have been friends like this from the beginning. That doesn’t really mean that he’s forgiven Chanyeol’s previous taunts, the ones that were obviously meant to annoy Baekhyun, but it does mean that he can overlook them and enjoy Chanyeol’s presence. Even his list of reasons for supposedly hating Chanyeol had more positive points than negative ones. Except for Sehun, of course.

“What would Sehun think about this? Not that I care, but I don’t really want to be bitch slapped in front of the whole camp next morning.” 

“He already knows.” Chanyeol squeezes Baekhyun’s hand before standing. “Do you want to head back?” 

“Yeah.” Baekhyun gets up, dusting sand from his pants. “It’s way past curfew, though.” He looks up at the moon, trying to judge what time it is. He fails. “We’re going to get in trouble.” 

“I always sneak in after curfew. No one’s really watching if you go in late enough.” 

They run back to the camp, hand in hand, and it’s almost exciting the way the wind rushes in their ears. Chanyeol was right; there’s no one outside, and even if anyone’s aware of them sneaking in, no one says anything. 

They reach Baekhyun’s dorm, and Chanyeol hugs him by the door. “I’ll see you in the morning.” 

“Good night,” Baekhyun says into Chanyeol’s shoulder.

The excitement and happiness doesn’t fade even after he gets into the cabin, and he falls asleep with a smile on his face. 

 

Camp is dismissed with all of the usual formalities. They’re all given pins that show they’ve “graduated” from the camp, tiny gold buttons with Chinese characters engraved in white on the surface. 

“It says ‘We are one,’” Luhan explains when rumors start spreading about what the characters actually mean. No one actually believes him, but that’s okay.

So with a promise that they’ll all see each other one day, no matter how ominous it sounds, camp is called to an official end. 

“I won’t see you again in a long, long time,” Baekhyun says to Kyungsoo as he stuffs his clothes back into his suitcase. “Aren’t you going to miss me?” 

Kyungsoo gives him a level stare. “No.” 

It won’t be long before they see each other, though. The war that’s begun in the West will spread to Asia in no time, so they have to be prepared to fight the monsters too. This year’s camp had mostly been focused on learning how to control their powers; hopefully, next year’s camp will teach them how to use their powers to fight against the monsters. 

“I bet it’ll be much more exciting next year.” Baekhyun sits on his suitcase as he tries to force the last articles of clothing inside. It seems like his clothes have somehow gained weight, since they don’t quite fit in the suitcase as well as they had before he’d come to Taiwan. He tugs at the zipper, but it refuses to budge, sitting stubbornly at the edge of the bulge of clothing that peeks out of the lid.

“You should fold your clothes,” Kyungsoo says, when he notices Baekhyun’s struggles. “It decreases the volume.” 

“It’s still the same clothes,” Baekhyun says, trying to jump on the suitcase and force it shut.

“But there’s less air inside.” 

Baekhyun thinks about this for a while. Kyungsoo had gotten his clothes into his suitcase with little difficulty. But even if this scientifically based voodoo (it’s still voodoo, though) actually does work, it’s too much work getting the clothes out again, folding them neatly, and putting them back in. Instead, Baekhyun uses his energy on forcing the suitcase shut centimeter by centimeter. He jumps up and does a victory dance when he finally gets the zipper to close. Kyungsoo gives him an unimpressed look and leaves the room.

“Hey, wait for me!” Baekhyun calls, still looking around the room for items he still needs to take with him. 

When he walks out, Chanyeol’s waiting for him with a wide smile on his face. “Hey. Are you ready? We’re leaving with Luhan.” 

“Yeah. Where’s Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun asks, looking around Chanyeol. He hadn't even gotten to say his goodbyes yet. 

“He looks—kind of busy.” 

Baekhyun grins when he locates Kyungsoo. The boy is currently kissing Jongin in front of the entire camp in the middle of the day, and it’s priceless blackmailing information. He pulls out his phone and takes a picture. 

“I’m not interrupting them. Let’s go,” he says, grabbing Chanyeol’s hand and leading him towards Luhan. They have some of the earliest flights of the day, right before noon, so they’re among the earliest to leave, while the others are just loitering around camp. 

“You know Kyungsoo’s going to kill you if he knows you have that picture, right?”

Baekhyun laughs loudly. He doesn’t feel nearly as intimidated now, since escape is just within his sight, and even though Kyungsoo might hurt him later, for now, he can do whatever he wants with the picture. “He won’t know until it’s too late.” 

Chanyeol throws his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders, the weight natural and comfortable. “Just be careful,” he says. 

Baekhyun grins up at him. “I know.” 

Luhan and Xiumin are already at the car, and they help Baekhyun and Chanyeol put their luggage in the trunk. 

“Get in,” Luhan says, slamming the lid shut. 

“Are you going to miss this place?” Baekhyun asks, taking a seat beside Chanyeol in the back. 

“I’m going to miss you,” Chanyeol says, wiggling his eyebrows ridiculously. 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and leans his head against Chanyeol’s shoulder.

The ride to the airport is relatively quiet. The radio’s on, and there’s a woman’s voice that seems to talk on and on in Chinese, interrupted only by commercial pauses. Baekhyun’s been here for over a month, and he still can’t understand a single word in Chinese. He dozes off listening to the soothing drone of nonsensical sounds, and wakes up when they pull up in front of the airport.

They take their respective suitcases with a lot of talking, and Luhan ruffles Baekhyun’s hair when he hugs him goodbye. 

“See you guys!” he calls over his shoulder. They’re all flying by different companies, so they split up at the different sections of the international airport.

Xiumin’s is the furthest down the hallway, but before he leaves, Luhan catches him and kisses him on the lips, not minding the shocked onlookers. Chanyeol cringes at the sight (their _responsible_ counselors making out in front of everyone), while Baekhyun cheers in the background.

“They finally got their shit together.” 

“Do you want me to kiss you goodbye too?” Chanyeol asks, smiling brightly as he leans closer. 

Baekhyun blinks. “What? No, I just—” 

The rest of his reply is muffled when Chanyeol presses his lips against Baekhyun’s. It’s a short and chaste kiss, but sweet nonetheless. Baekhyun hits Chanyeol when he steps back and realizes that there are tears in his eyes. 

“You idiot. Our first kiss wasn’t supposed to be a goodbye kiss!” 

Chanyeol reaches out and brushes the tears away with his thumb. “It’s not going to be our last kiss,” he says, and to prove his point, he kisses Baekhyun again, on the lips.

“I thought we agreed to no PDA,” Baekhyun protests weakly, but his wide smile proves that he doesn’t mind at all.

“Did we?” Chanyeol asks, and this time, he places a kiss on Baekhyun’s forehead. “I’ll see you again soon, so don’t worry.” 

“Yeah.” Baekhyun hugs Chanyeol tightly. “I’ll see you soon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave your review on LiveJournal. ♥


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